Andy Grammer at Ridgefield Playhouse

Andy Grammer owes his success to the streets, but not in the street-hardened rapper sense.

Grammer used his experiences as an Los Angeles street performer to launch a successful pop career. No longer playing for tips, Grammer will take the stage at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Friday, June 27. He is known for such hits as "Keep Your Head Up," "Fine By Me," "The Pocket" and "You Should Know Better" and will perform those songs as well as music from his latest album, "Magazines or Novels."

"Keep Your Head Up" and "Fine By Me" are mega-hits that together have sold more than a 1.5 million copies. Grammer's latest single, "Back Home," will appear on the new album, which is set to be released on Aug. 5.

In a recent interview Grammer talked about the new album, why he loves music and his time as a street performer.

Q: Will you be performing any songs from the new album at the show?

A: This one specifically, they can expect about half; stuff from my first album and then we're playing half from the new album, which is really awesome. I've played two shows already and the fans are freaking out about all the new stuff. I'm really excited.

Q: What inspired you to write the song "Keep Your Head Up?"

A: "Keep Your Head Up" was a long day of street performing with no CD sales at all, and I went home and wrote myself a pick-me-up and it seemed to have worked for me and a lot of other people.

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Q: When you wrote "Keep Your Head Up" were you trying to write a really uplifting song?

A: Yeah, but it was kind of something for myself 'cause I had a pretty rough day, so it was either go home and be bummed about it or write a song about it.

Q: Is your single "Back Home" somewhat autobiographical?

A: Definitely. I've been on the road for like three years so I missed my close friends. When I came home to write for my second album I had some time, you know, like four-hour coffee conversations and a long day with someone you missed. I just missed it; it was really important to me, so I wrote this one kind of about that.

Q: You used be a street performer in L.A. Is there any similarity between street performing and performing at massive music venues?

A: Sure, zero entitlement. You have to do something that is worth everybody's time or they don't care. The street performing thing, what that will teach you is, if your song's not good enough, your voice isn't good enough, if you're not doing something that's really gonna pull somebody in and they have nothing invested in you, they'll just walk by. I think when you're playing a show for somebody who bought a ticket you owe it to them to blow their mind somehow. You've got to be like, "What's the show and why." Why aren't they stopping on the street to buy your CD, very similar; why aren't they leaving the show freaking out. You got to deliver.

Q: Did street performing help you hone your trade?

A: Definitely. I did that for three years and really kind of figured out where my voice sounded good or what it was that I had to offer.

A: For this album, because there was a lot of pressure to get it done, I'd pretty much set aside the whole week, maybe take one day off. Depending on how I was feeling that day, I would write about eight hours a day and then see what I got. So I probably wrote about 100 songs for the 13 that are gonna be on the album.

Q: What initially attracted you to music?

A: I love song writing, getting emotions across in about four minutes, it's not daunting. The idea of writing a screenplay or something freaks me out, but a four-minute song, you can go so far with that. So that really became my favorite medium of art.